Chintamani Poudel
Chitwan, January 18:
The district — the hub of poultry industry in the country — is on high alert to prevent the outbreak of bird flu. A meeting, attended by the representatives of the District Administration Office (DAO) and District Livestock Services Office, held here today decided to ensure preventive measures to save the growing industry from the looming crisis at hand. Representatives of security agencies, poultry farmers, entrepreneurs, experts and other stakeholders took part in the meeting, which was chaired by CDO Ratna Raj Pandey.
It was decided to enforce quarantine, by managing sale and distribution of poultry products and feed. The government was urged to launch a nationwide campaign on the consumption of poultry products in light of the bird flu scare. Talks revolved around making the district-based National Bird Disease Research Office and livestock services office more technically competent so that the surveillance can be carried on a regular basis. Chitwan contributes to more than 50 per cent of the poultry industry in Nepal.
Compensation row disrupts culling operation:
Jhapa: Culling began within a radius of three km in Mechinagar Municipality-10 from Sunday. According to assistant CDO Laxman Hamal, 1,472 chickens and four ducks were culled on the first day by 10 Rapid Response Teams.
Earlier, the poultry farmers disrupted the culling operation for five hours, protesting insufficient amount of compensation. Public resentment is growing at the lack of preventive measures even though the outbreak of bird flu was confirmed on Friday. The government has fixed the following compensation rates: Rs 500 for a local chicken, Rs 250 for broiler, Rs 100 for backyard ones and 50 paisa for an egg. However, the aggrieved farmers are demanding Rs 400 for a chicken, Rs 20 for a kg of poultry feed and Rs 4 for an egg. — Govinda Chhetry
hat-tip Pixie [bolding mine]
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